The “Mad Men”-themed video does not appear on the agency’s YouTube channel, which was started in April 2011. Routinely faults the agency for delays and misinformation in its customer service unit. The National Taxpayer, an independent position within the I.R.S., has long referred to its efforts to assist and guide taxpayers as “customer service,” a concept first heavily promoted by two recent former commissioners, Mark Everson and Douglas Shulman, andĮmbraced by a prior acting commissioner, Steven Miller, who was forced out last month over the scandal involving the tax-exemption applications. has put in place tough new standards for approval of videos, both for internal training and external taxpayer education.” spokesman, said in statementĪbout the video, which was recorded in 2011 as a four-part training series. training and cost-saving efforts, these must be done with appropriate production, content, tone and cost,” Bruce Friedland, an I.R.S.
“While video is a critical part of I.R.S. publication as the acting director of the earned income tax credit Baronich, described last fall in an I.R.S. In the latest video, the Don Draper-like figure declares at one point that “we, as administrative support employees, are the curators of customer service” and pauses twice to introduce Leslye Baronich,Īt the time the agency’s director of field assistance in the wage and investment division. “It’s embarrassing, and I apologize,” Mr. Trek” parody, which cost more than $50,000 to make. On Thursday, Faris Fink, the commissioner of the agency’s small business and self-employed division, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing that he regretted having played the character Spock in the “Star employee bemoans her clumsy underlings, saying, “It’s so challenging to teach them, even though the moves are the directions to training and leadership videos have included parodies of “Gilligan’s Island” and “Star Trek” and a clip of employees in the Small Business/Self Employed unit performing Since then, the fallout has turned to a Treasury watchdog report on wasteful spending on conferences and videos of questionable purpose. The undated production, labeled “IRS Training Video,” comes amid growing scrutiny by Congress of the beleaguered agency, now nearly a month into a scandal that began with accusations that it flagged conservative Your film directors encourage you to give your best performance.” “Our customer service is an incredible work of art. “Whether you are a conductor guiding a symphony in a concert, or an artist creating a breathtaking work of art, or a museum curator preserving the archives of history, you are an essential artisan who makes aĭifference every day,” the dark-haired figure intones. Soundtrack, the four-and-a-half minute video reaches deep for art-world metaphors to describe how I.R.S. Shot in black and white, with a horn-heavy In the noirish video, an actor appears to echo the character of Don Draper, the besuited advertising executive of the show who dreams up campaigns for cigarettes, airlines and bras. Yet another Internal Revenue Service training video has surfaced, this one a thinly veiled parody of the hit television show “Mad Men.”